Salthouse - 17th October 2024

 We continue to try to get out when possible as forecasts change continuously. Today we managed 30 birds at Salthouse. Nothing very exciting, although we did catch someone else's Long-tailed tit and I got experience of extracting a new species. Unfortunately, it wasn't a bird species and the animal in question was a toad. It wasn't the easiest of extractions as toads have the ability to puff themselves up when threatened, making it much harder for me to get its head out of the mesh than when it first went in. Toad released none the worse for wear. So, that was a first for me and a little trickier than extracting frogs.

Age 3 Song Thrush

Also caught the last of 4 cygnets at Salthouse duck pond. 

Totals: 28 (2)

Blackbird - 1
Blue Tit - 11 (1)
Coal Tit - 1
Dunnock - 2
Goldcrest - 1
Great Tit - 3
Greenfinch - 3
Long-tailed Tit - 0 (1)
Robin - 2
Song Thrush - 1
Wren - 3

Plus 0ne Mute Swan cygnet ringed and darvic marked, 4GET - a code to remember.

Deepdale Farm - 14th October 2024

 A plan to try for Meadow Pipits went somewhat awry when we had rain before 7am. This wasn't forecast on our weather app, and we decided to wait until it had passed and start a bit later. On arriving at around 10am there weren't many pipits. But, we could see quite a few Skylark so we set up a tringle with a double as a backstop. The wind was stronger than forecast too and it looked as though our efforts might have been for nothing as the nets were wind affected with birds flying over and around them but rarely entering the catching zone. We put up a single 6m in the hedgerow, just to increase our chances of having something to do. As it turned out that was a good move, for of the 22 captures only two were from the 5 net configuration for pipits and larks with the rest from the 6m single.

We were quite pleased to get a couple of Blackcaps. Also saw an adult and two young Whooper Swans fly over and land in the adjacent wetland. 

3M Blackcap

Male Goldcrest

Meadow Pipit

Total: 21 (1)

Blackcap - 2
Blue Tit - 3
Dunnock - 0 (1)
Goldcrest - 3
Great Tit - 2
Long-tailed Tit - 8
Meadow Pipit - 2
Wren - 1

Salthouse - 11th October 2024

 The value of this site is mainly linked to opportunities during fall conditions, and arrivals during migration, but today was all about working out where nets would work well, what sizes can be used and whether it is possible to get non 4xdrive cars up the track. Having got stuck in the deep wheel ruts on the way up ourselves, along with the limited area for parking it will only be possible to get our high clearance Dacia to the gate, limiting people joining us to just 1, possibly 2 depending how much kit we have in the car with us.

The site was devoid of warblers and thrushes, and looking at the data sheet it might be mistaken for a feeder site, so many tits, yet not a feeder anywhere. Two thirds of the birds were caught as a couple of reasonably sized flocks moved through in the late morning,

This first session at the new site in sight of the sea resulted in 36 new birds. In truth, too many Tits for our liking, but fall migrants will join Tit flocks so this could be a positive if considered in a certain light.

3M Chaffinch

Total: 36

Blue Tit - 16
Chaffinch - 2
Dunnock - 2
Great Tit - 6
Long-tailed Tit - 6
Robin - 1
Song Thrush - 1
Wren - 2

Looking north.

Wadbister garden, Shetland - 24th September - 4th October 2024

 We booked this holiday accommodation for two weeks birding, and having booked it were pleased when the owner agreed that we could do some ringing there. We weren't sure how suitable the garden would be but it looked promising from the advertisement.

On arrival we found we were at the very far end of the road with a second empty property next door. 

Our house is hidden in the clump of vegetation at the far end of the road.

It was a really nice place to stay. We heard Red Grouse most mornings and saw them a couple of times too. Being in an area by the voeside that was rarely disturbed we were twice able to see otters. There was also an eider flock, with one Velvet  Scoter on a couple of dates.

The island is quite striking for three plant species, Montbretia, Fuchcia Riccartonni and Shetland Rose. All are invasive.

Fuchia Riccartonni is extremely hardy and grows freely in gardens and along the burns. Birds eat the  seeding fruits and use it for roosting.

The roses plants were a favourite of thrushes and Starlings.

Due to the Gulf Stream bringing warm waters from the Gulf of Mexico through the Atlantic Ocean to the north of the UK, temperatures are warmer than other locations at the same latitude (Alaska, Greenland, Oslo in Norway) and plants continue to flower into October.

We got two nets up in the sheltered front garden with another between the house and hedge of willow and fuchcia at the back. The rear net worked well in the first week, bringing most of the Meadow Pipits that we caught.

Adult Meadow Pipit.

A local man who had heard we were there for the birds came and said that he'd been seeing a bird unlike anything he'd seen before. When a Shetlanders cays that, it's worth paying attention. Unfortunately on this occasion it turned out to be a Meadow Pipit (Hill Sporrow in the local dialect) with partially leucistic feathers in the wings and tail.

Although there were migrants being found, there was little evidence of warblers or flycatchers passing through in the first week. Chris also checked at night with the thermal imager and the garden looked fairly devoid of life, although any birds roosting in the dry-stone walls would not have shown up. We continued targeting Meadow Pipits, and also caught a few of the resident Wrens.

This sub-species of Wren is much more robust than the ones we usually get

at home. Weights for 7 individuals were 14.7g, 13.4g, 12.2g, 14.8g, 13.4g, 12.3g and 12g.

There were Blackbirds foraging in the garden and of those, the later ones were probably migrants as thrushes were beginning to move through.

Another local that we chatted to had got another funny bird, turning out to be a House Sparrow.

Perhaps limited population size, and hence gene pool, causes leucism

in some resident birds

Once the Starlings found the fat pellets we were putting out they visited regularly, 

increasingly after nets had been closed.

This net caught most of the Starlings that we got. 

There was a second short net in the far righthand corner that was our hope for getting a Yellow-browed Warbler, but despite one on the 2nd and another on the 5th when we were about to leave, we did not catch one.

There was a fall of YBWs on the day we arrived. Other ringers

have colour marked 49 birds on Shetland in the time we were there. Despite seeing 

several individuals, none were project birds.

We got a couple of Blackcaps on the last day, both in the rear net where we were no longer getting Mippits.

Female Blackcap

All rings used will be transferred to the local ringing group to maintain a complete record of ringing activities on Shetland.

Total: 56 (8)

Blackbird - 2
Blackcap - 2
Meadow Pipit - 21 (1)
Starling - 22 (4)

Wren - 7 (3)

The house was rented by some birders after us and by their second day had reported 2 Red-breasted Flycatchers.

Shetland, 23rd September - 5th October 2024

 We started our journey the day before as catching the ferry would have been a bit of a push had there been traffic delays. This did give us to see the Steppe-grey shrike at Dunbar on the way.

Our overnight sailing got us to the Shetland mainland quite early so we took a walk by Clickimin loch hoping to turn up some migrants. We did find some redpolls but nothing else. Thankfully, as time went on we were rather luckier, not finding any of the real rarities, but managing to see the Lanceolated Warbler at Levenwick, and the Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler at Maywick. Both times we were nearby and arrived for the first group efforts to see them. We also got to the Pechora Pipit at Quendale Mill on its first day.

We went to a few places to find YBWs, the Grutness garden included, and saw well into double figures by the end of the fortnight. Of course, nothing beats finding your own and we managed this at a few locations, including the garden at Wadbister where we were staying.

We found a couple of Barred Warblers of our own, both being first year individuals.

Even managed to find our own Pied Flycatcher at Strand.

Among the scare and common birds that we managed to get, off the Whatsapp group were the following species.

Common Rosefinch at burn of Sound

Siberian Chiffchaff at Quendale

Lesser Whitethroat at Grutness, may be accepted as eastern

Litte Bunting, burn of Sound

We couldn't help but end up in a few twitches, quite unusual for us. In the absence of a decent image of the bird, here is the Eastern-crowned Warbler twitch.

A few of the crowd for the Eastern-crowned Warbler

An indication of how flighty and difficult the bird was to see.

Scopes were useless.

It took a lot to keep many of those lacking in fieldcraft off the grass.

We were some of the few who saw the Lanceolated Warbler other than the finders.

No photo of the birders trying for PG Tips, across fields, fences and in the rain.

This was the best I could do of the bird.

 

Common birds were always there to draw the eye and keep us on our toes.

Male Blackcap

Another terrible record shot, this time of Corncrake at Tingwall. 

We found the juvenile in the road later in the week but it had internal injuries and died while in our care. The corpse will go to the Shetland museum.

House Sparrows

Starlings

Female Blackbird

One of the highlights didn't involve birds at all. We were at Grutness when a report of White-beaked Dolphin heading through the Sound of Mousa came through. We picked out spot and hoped to see them.

White-beaked Dolphins.

The pod was assessed by drone as they rounded Sumburgh head and classed at a super-pod of 250+ animals. We also saw, using the scope, three distant but clearly Orca, two bulls and a third smaller female. No wonder the dolphins were moving so fast. From our vantage point we could see the pod split into two groups. Most were jumping clear of the water at first creating splashing as they passed Mousa, then some peeled off continuing to move the same way into a bay  while the bulk of the pod swam less obviously, possibly slower without splashes southwards. It looked to me like a distraction ploy, but the Orcas never came that close and the smaller group soon returned from the bay  and rejoined the pod.

We did take the nets and there will be a blog of our captures. Species selection is restricted and much more pedestrian than some of the racy little birds we managed to see.

Morston - 16th September 2024

 A first session at the new Morston site. This area is very much wind affected on the majority of days so it will take a bit of working out to develop the ringing opportunities to make the most of sessions there.

We achieved a modest 18 birds of 8 species but some very nice migrants and less often captured resident species too.

Juvenile Stonechat

Juvenile Lesser Whitethroat

Adult female Stonechat

Total: 18

Dunnock - 2
Goldfinch - 1
Lesser Whitethroat - 2
Meadow Pipit - 5
Reed Bunting - 2
Stonechat - 2
Whitethroat - 2
Wren - 2

Deepdale Farm - 14th September 2024

After a sustained spell of windy weather, the forecast told of a drop in the windy conditions, but this turned out to be false. The nets were wind affected and the chilly breeze gave a distinctly autumnal feel. No surprise then that we only had one summer migrant bird, a Chiffchaff, in the meagre catch of 12 birds. We might have been a bit happier had the Barn Owl that we saw in the net had stayed until we reached it, but this was not the case, and unsurprising given that we were using a 16*16 mesh for passerines.

Juvenile female Goldcrest

Skeins of Pinkfeet overhead and Marsh Harrier in flight brought another dimension to the morning as did three Migrant Hawkers sunning themselves in the hedge opposite, and a Chinese Water Deer that emerged from the field just a couple of feet from CL, startling us as much as it startled itself.

Migrant Hawkers amongst the rosehips

Total: 12

Blackbird - 0 (1)
Blue Tit - 2
Chiffchaff - 1
Goldcrest - 1
Long-tailed Tit - 3 (2)
Wren - 2